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A Summer Vacation 


The Yellowstone National 
Park 



BY 


J, A. HEASLEY 

GRAND RAPIDS 
MICH. 






















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DEDICATED TO 


OUR NIECES AND NEPHEWS 
Dr. and Mrs. J. A. Heasley 

Happy is he whose mind on his labor is bent 


The halftones used in this publication -were 
furnished by the courtesy of 
Mr. C. O. Smedley 



Copyright 

November 7 1910 



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(■rand Canyon of the Yellowstone 











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PREFACE 


Not all of us the world can see , 
But must toil on and contented be. 

The writing, of this booklet, was not premeditated. 
The thoughts were jotted down while sitting beside 
the subject of this story. / have not written this 
story with the thought that you have but little else 
to read. 

f know that circumstances often shape themselves 
so that it makes it impossible for us to carry out our 
romantic inclinations. 

I place this story in your ha?ids trusting it may 
instruct as well as entertain you- 

Should the opportunity so avail itself that you 
may hq,ve the pleasure to visit some of Nature's 
wonders , I trust you may find them as I have tried 
to picture them to you. 


J. A. H. 



4 



CHAPTER I. 


Nature whispers: “Little dost thou know” 


HISTORY. 

Yellowstone National Park is one of our 
largest parks set aside by our government. 
It extends sixty-one miles north and south and 
fifty-three miles east and west with an acreage 
of thirty-three hundred and twelve square miles, 
or more than two million acres, and is located 
in the north-western corner of Wyoming, except 
a few miles extending into Montana and Idaho 
on the west. No portion of the park is less than 
six thousand feet above sea level and the high¬ 
est points are fourteen thousand feet above. 

7 







It is located on a high plateau in the midst of 
the Rocky Mountain system. Its valleys are 
timbered with Norway pine, surrounded with 
lofty mountains whose peaks are covered with 
perpetual snow. It has an abundance of rain 
and a very heavy snow fall which gives rise to 
some of our principal rivers. 

On all sides of us we have beautiful lakes and 
rivers filled with mountain and rainbow trout. 

The waters of these rivers eventually find their 
way into the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans. Those 
rivers running eastward from the Continental 
Divide flow into the Missouri and Mississippi 
and to the Atlantic Ocean. Those west of the 
divide flow ‘into the Snake and Columbia 
Rivers, and into the Pacific Ocean. 

The forests are enlivened by the stately elk, 
the nimble deer and the sluggish and awkward 
appearing bear. 

The rivers with their falls, cascades and rapids 
whose clear sparkling waters are filled with fish, 
add enchantment to the surroundings. 

Deposited in the layers of these lofty mount¬ 
ains are coloring matters of yellow, brown, pur¬ 
ple and red. The coloring is so attractive and 
so impressed its beauty upon the early explorer 
that he named it “Yellowstone.” 

Besides its beauty we have its wonders. In 


8 


this park we have more than two thousand hot 
springs and one hundred geysers, whose waters 
are so heavily charged with lime as to form 
lime deposits about their borders or exit. This 
carries with it more or less mineral or vegetable 
coloring matter of beautiful and charming shades. 

The first white man to explore the Yellow¬ 
stone and the surrounding country was John 
Colter, who in 1806, obtaining consent to leave 
the main body of the Lewis and Clark expedition, 
traveled towards the head waters of the Missouri 
river. In so doing he crossed what is now known 
as the Yellowstone Park. 

The descriptions he gave of the hot springs 
and geysers were discredited by his people. 

John Colter spent four years in the surround¬ 
ing country before returning to St. Louis. 

It was so difficult to obtain access to this 
region that very little was known of it until after 
1834. In that year W. A. Ferris visited this 
wonderful piece of nature and gave a written 
description of its magnitude. 

Occasionally for years, persons would venture 
into this region, but it was not until men of con¬ 
siderable experience had examined the minutest 
points of interest, that the Government became 
interested. It was in 1872 that by an act of Con- 


9 


gress, this peculiar piece of nature was set aside 
as Yellowstone National Park. 

The Yellowstone Pahk is under control of the 
Secretary of the Interior. 

An army of four hundred soldiers is maintain¬ 
ed in the park to protect the tourists as well as 
protect the Government holdings against maraud¬ 
ers. 

The headquarters for this army is Fort Yellow¬ 
stone, located at Mammoth Hot Springs. 

Sub-stations are maintained at different points 
throughout the paric. 

These soldiers perform their duty so quietly 
that one would scarcely know the authority they 
carry with them. 

A view from the mountain top brings out a 
sight much like the curling smoke from a small 
town upon a frosty morning. 

As we approach nearer this smoke it proves 
to be steam, issuing from hot springs or geysers. 

Underneath this beautiful yet queer pheno¬ 
menon is heat so great that it boils the water 
which forms the hot springs and geysers. Yes, 
even more than that, it is so intense that it dis¬ 
solves the rocks far beneath, which come to the 
surface in the form of hot mud and boiling cal¬ 
cimine, sulphurous mixtures of yellow, green and 
black, sending forth an odoriferous vapor. 


10 


After an eruption of one of these large gey¬ 
sers and we look down deep into its empty 
throat expecting to behold a bird’s-eye view of 
“Hades,” but to our disappointment the crater 
has already filled with steam and a view of that 
promised land is shut off. 


11 


CHAPTER II. 


Fill my Soul with Youth 


After one of the finest breakfasts a man could 
ask for, we, with W. C. Berg-man and wife of 
Los Angeles, were assigned to a four-passenger 
surrey driven by Harry Wallas and drawn by a 
team of four year old horses, in from the 
ranch but two months and had been driven into 
the mountains but nineteen miles after being 
petted by the hand of civilization. 

Harry Wallas was one of the breakers and I 
must say that in his drive with us of 160 miles, 
he proved himself a good horseman and a gentle¬ 
man. 

As I said, we were assigned to a team of four 
year olds, one gray and the other sorrel, with 
eyes like balls of fire; with bowed neck and 


12 






H oocloos 



-1 ■ 




























. 


















. 










































standing mane, they looked like demons of the 
regions we afterward passed through. 

In leaving Yellowstone as well as our'approach 
to Yellowstone Park, the country is covered by 
a luxurious growth of Norway Pine as'straight 
as timber could grow; towering high on either 
side of the road for miles like giant walls. The 
timber stands so thick you feel real shut in. 

After a drive of about three miles eastward 
and into the park, we came to a beautiful stream, 
the Madison River, about three hundred feet 
wide—not deep but just deep enough to make a 
beautiful ripple as it passes over its rocky bottom. 
It is here we have our first bad spell. —Trout— 
I saw trout ten, twelve and fourteen inches long 
in the river, some lying still and others jumping 
out of the water. No trouble to catch them, 
but like the temptation of the evil spirit, “what’s 
the use” for we couldn’t use them had we 
caught them and why should we destroy the 
beautiful creatures for no cause at all? 

We pass on leaving behind our first vision or 
the finny tribe in the park only to be more aston¬ 
ished at the towering mountains on our left. 
These mountains rise to a height of 2,000 feet. 
They are of a limestone formation and have de¬ 
posited in their layers some beautiful coloring 
matter. In some peaks the layers are horizontal, 


13 


in some perpendicular and in others forty and 
even sixty degrees of slant. It looks very much 
as if at the time of this upheaval, that some of 
these immense fragments must have toppled 
over; and now as years, yes, centuries have pass¬ 
ed, their crevices have opened up, some two inch¬ 
es, some several feet, allowing deposits of moist¬ 
ure and fertility upon which seed have fallen and 
grown into large trees. Where they get sus¬ 
tenance is more than I can calculate, sur¬ 
rounded by hundreds of feet of rock with but 
a few inches of crevice in which to grow and 
build up stately trees. Here we see rocks, mount¬ 
ains, rivers and timber on all sides. As we drive 
around a narrow pass our gray four-year-old is 
fighting the very troublesome flies. Now he 
kicks, gets his tail over the lines, bucks, 'kicks, 
runs and pitches. We believe every minute he 
is going over the ledge with us all. The whole 
crowd keep their nerve. Soon a soldier armed to 
the teeth comes rushing up to our rescue. We 
come out of the melee without a bruise or scratch, 
with a calm, quiet driver, a handy soldier and 
self-reserved women who (no matter how much 
frightened) did not scream. I might say it was 
here at this point that we learned it was not 
considered wise for tenderfeet to travel through 
the mountains alone. 


14 


The government has stationed at Mamouth 
Hot Springs a portion of its regular army for 
the public’s service. Always one and sometimes 
two armed soldiers with two hundred rounds 
follow you. They are congenial boys and will 
do anything for you. 

I recall a young lady admiring some wild flow¬ 
ers as she passed. “Would you like those flowers ?” 
the soldier guard said to her. Of course she 
would, so he rode back and brought our ladies 
an armful of wild flowers. Upon thanking him 
for this act of kindness, he said, “It is no bother 
at all to accommodate you. It is only for three 
months we have you with us and think of what 
we suffer for the next nine,—not a lady to be 
seen outside the keeper’s wife and daughters. 
It’s-He turned away with tears in his eyes. 

Now we continue our pleasant drive along the 
canyon of the Madison River, I see up the side 
of the mountain a brown spot. It moves. Now 
two of them. “See, see,” I cried, and all looked, 
and skipping awkwardly up the side of the 
mountain were two large brown bears. Do you 
know, the goose pimples stood out all over us. 
Now we come to the junction of Firehole and 
Gibbon rivers, which form the Madison river. 
From here we follow Firehole river and soon 
we are in sight of a large hotel, the Fountain 


15 



Hotel, and we are ready for our lunch. We have 
driven seventeen miles through the morning’s 
cool and brisk air. As we approach this hotel 
a new sight meets our eyes. Steam—yes, hot 
water oozing from the ground and not far ahead 
of us are lakes of green-looking water. What is 
'it? Geysers. Now much excited we must see 
them first. Not a bite until we have seen them. 
Here we are standing on the brink of a boiling 
lake of tossing, roaring water with crevices on 
all sides of us, easy to step into and become 
scalded. We become excited and stamp with one 
foot upon the limestone surface, and to the 
astonishment of all, it is hollow underneath ex¬ 
cept for the volume of heated, tossing water. I 
dare not stamp again for fear of going through 
into eternity—no—into a new creed that sur¬ 
passes the punishment of the old Methodist 
Doctrine of fry and sizzle. It was right here 
that I said if ever I . started a creed I would send 
all punishable to the bottomless pit of the Yel¬ 
lowstone National Park. 

Let us be off! We have not even begun our 
long trip and why should we stop to soliliquize? 



16 


Geyser and Hot Springs 










CHAPTER III. 

Teach me thy wonders 


Just south of Fountain Hotel is an upheaval 
of more than one hundred acres. As I travel 
over this barren alkali waste, hot, boiling spurts 
from two inches to four feet in diameter are pour¬ 
ing out hot alkali water or steam. I pass on 
up to the highest elevation—probably fifty feet 
above the surrounding country. One-half mile 
from Fountain Hotel we come to Fountain Gey¬ 
ser, thirty or forty feet in diameter. The water 
comes to the surface and boils over the edges in 
all directions. This geyser spouts into the air 
seventy-five feet every three to four hours and 
lasts twenty minutes. In 1899 the Fountain 
Geyser ceased its activity for three months. In 
the meantime, a geyser broke forth in the pool 
north of the Fountain. Its action was very ir- 


17 






regular, but at times it lasted for fully an hour. 
Ten years later, to the month, it again abandoned 
this crater, taking up its abode in the crater ad¬ 
joining. Its action was so great that it threw 
mud and fragments of rock two hundred feet 
high. This continued for many hours each dav 
and lasted three months. The pressure was so 
great for two days before its breaking forth 
that even those accustomed to such action became 
alarmed; loud rumblings and even tremors could 
be felt. Just to the left is another angry pool, 
one of the most inviting places any demon could 
devise to watch the punishment of his victim. It 
is called the Devil’s Half Acre, and surely they 
gave him good measure. As you look down into 
it—it being ten feet below the surface,—you are 
fairly suffocated with the steam. It is best to 
watch the course of the wind or you may get 
caught in a very unpleasant alkali vapor. Just 
east of this diabolical half acre is Prismatic Lake 
of about three acres of clear boiling water. 

It looks green owing to its great depth. As 
the water boils up it flows over the surface in 
all directions, from one inch to less in depth, 
causing a calcareous deposit, which hardens 
and forms a crust upon which we are walking. 
No one knows just how thick it is. It may be sev¬ 
eral feet and it may be only a few inches. I am 


18 


inclined to think the latter is nearer the truth, 
from the many perforations and escape of steam 
as you pass over it. You are not on this crust 
ten minutes until the heat through the soles of 
your sheos becomes almost unbearable. I cross a 
road and at a distance of a few rods, I meet an¬ 
other wild feature of the demon process. Here 
is a boiling spring, or what not? I don’t know 
what to call it, but it is generally known as the 
Paint Pot. A pool about twenty feet across with 
a drab colored alkali substance of the constituency 
of lime ready for the hard coat in plastering, 
boils into the air from four to six feet. This 
same substance after being diluted with water 
is used in calcimining houses. It seems to be 
intended for just that purpose and wears very 
well when placed on the walls of these dwellings. 

We leave Fountain Hotel at 1130, and drive 
nine miles to the south and arrive at Old Faith¬ 
ful Inn at 4:30. We have driven scarcely two 
miles when we come to a sudden halt. Our sur¬ 
rey stands between two boiling springs about 
eight to twelve feet in diameter. We stand 
nearest the one known as The Morning Glory. 
The depth causes the reflection in the water to 
lodk quite like that flower—of a deep purple 
color. As our four-year-olds stand here, we sit¬ 
ting in the buggy, we are so close to the heaving 
19 


mass of water that you can look down far into 
the depths, little realizing that its waters have 
been sounded for five hundred feet and no bot¬ 
tom found. One move to the left and we would 
be cast into the disturbed foaming and seeth¬ 
ing pool. We heave a sigh of relief as we pass 
on by, never to forget the sight and dangers 
just experienced. The perspiration stands out 
on us in large crystal-like beads. Our nerves 
have just quieted when we approach a bridge 
crossing Firehole River, and such a sickening 
sound reaches our ears. What can it be? Steam 
shooting high into the air. It proves to be 
Riverside Geyser. Arising from the immediate 
water’s edge are two cones, one higher than the 
other, extending from eight to twelve feet above 
the water. From this, immense volumes of hot 
water are forced fifty to eighty feet into the air, 
depositing its full volume in Firehole River. 


CHAPTER IV. 


Little do we know what dwells within thee 


Near the road as we drive by and upon a 
prominent elevation near Firehole River, we find 
located Artemesia Geyser. 

As we stand on the bank of the river and 
look down into its clear water of unknown 
depths, with its border of green, scarce would 
we think this spring or geyser was sixty feet 
in diameter. The water is so clear that distance 
or depth can not be measured with the eye. As 
we look at this great body of water this morn¬ 
ing, little would one think it could take on vio¬ 
lent activity, but such is true. Once in from ten 
to twenty-four hours it forces immense volumes 
of water into the air. The ground or lime de¬ 
posit, more properly speaking, about this geyser 
and down to Firehole River some thirty-five feet 
away, is highly colored with yellow, orange, 
21 








purple and green. The coloring matter deposit¬ 
ed about this geyser is as delicate and beautiful 
as any in the park. 

A short distance from Morning Glory we 
come to the Fan Geyser. The deposit of lime 
about its exit has formed into a fan shape so 
that when its eruptions take place, the water 
is forced out in this peculiar shape; hence its 
name. 

The Fan Geyser acts once in about five hours 
and lasts about ten mintues and shoots fifty feet 
high. This is one of the oddities seen in the 
park. 

A few feet away is the Mortar Geyser, so 
named from the peculiar shape of its cone. This 
geyser acts once in ten hours and lasts five 
minutes. It shoots thirty feet high. Here you 
see are two geysers but a few feet apart and 
acting independently of each other. 

After we cross Firehole River, we soon reach 
a number of geysers. First we have Splendid 
Geyser. This geyser is now extinct, but when 
in action was very attractive. The water was 
forced two hundred feet high. As its name im¬ 
plies, it was a splendid actor. In 1892 it ceased 
action and has remained quiet ever since. Usu¬ 
ally when a geyser quits action, it breaks forth 
somewhere else, but not so with Splendid. 


22 


Comet Geyser next neighbor of Splendid 
Geyser, is very irregular in its action. When 
it does act, it spouts water fifty feet high and 
lasts from one to two minutes. 

The next in this family group is Daisy Geyser. 
It has a habit of acting about once in an hour 
when it spouts several feet high and lasts from 
one to two minutes. 

Near the water’s edge is Oblong Geyser. She 
pours out her hot water thirty-five feet high. 
She acts once in about seven hours and lasts 
five minutes. 

A few rods to the south of our drive, we 
have another peculiar and a very different forma¬ 
tion. It is commonly known as Black Sand 
Spring. This is about fifty feet in diameter. 
The side walls are colored brown and yellow. 
About the spring is a peculiar stone formation. 
It is no doubt the result of volcanic eruption. 
From one side flows a small rivulet. „ The color¬ 
ing here is yellow and saffron mingled with 
pink and sometimes green. The overflow from 
Black Sand Spring spreads over the surface and 
is known as Specimen Lake. The water flowing 
over the surface contains so much alkali that 
it has destroyed all vegetable life. Large, dead 
trees stand out as monuments of its destructive 
power. East and south are the remains of a 


23 


number of extinct geysers. These lime deposits 
have been crumbled down by the frost and rain 
and sufficient good soil has been deposited so 
that grass and small trees are growing there. 

Near these extinct geysers is a Mud Spring. 
It is about eight or ten feet in diameter and 
the real mud boils up. 

Going in an easterly direction, we soon come 
to a pool or small lake of emerald color, called 
Emerald Pool. Its center is a deep emerald 
color, changing to a yellow as it reaches the 
edges. The formation of rock about it is of a 
deep red brown, which brings out some very 
charming and pleasing colors. 

Near by are Cliff Springs, close beside Iron 
Spring Creek. This spring boils continuously. 
It rarely spouts. 

Castle Spring is close to Firehole River, and 
is about twenty feet in diameter. The border¬ 
ing about the top of the spring and about the 
sides of the channel leading from Castle Spring 
have deposited upon them, beautiful coloring 
matter. 

About six rods from Castle Spring, we cofne 
to Castle Geyser close to the edge of the wood 
and built up to a very prominent point upon 
a base of one hundred feet. This is one of the 
largest cones in this series of geysers. It is 


24 


here that we have one of the best studies of the 
limestone formation. You can plainly trace out 
layer upon layer the many years of activity 
through which this geyser, one of the oldest in 
the park, has gone through. A portion of the 
cone being broken off enables one to study its 
action. Castle Geyser acts once in about twenty- 
five hours. It begins with spurts of hot water 
fifteen feet high which continue for five or six 
hours, when it take on more activity and spouts 
water seventy-five to one hundred feet high. Sev¬ 
eral times a year it has eruptions of a very violent 
character, spouting water from two to three hun¬ 
dred feet high. 

A peculiar spring exists at the base of this 
geyser. Not infrequently campers place their 
cooking utensils filled with meat or vegetables 
in this boiling hot water to cook. It seems to 
rival the “fireless cooker.” 

The springs and geysers I have just described 
are located on the south side of Firehole River. 
We will cross this river just west of the Inn 
and follow down the north bank. 

• You will see by my description that in a dis¬ 
tance of two miles, I have pointed out to you 
fully thirty geysers or hot springs. There are 
many more of minor importance that I have made 
no effort to describe. 


25 


CHAPTER V. 


If thou likest it not spew it out 


Crossing the river, the first to confront us is 
the Butterfly Spring. It is located close to the 
edge of the Pine Forest; not large, but has its 
individual attractions. Its coloring matter and 
activity are well worth seeing. 

We ascend an elevation of lime deposit. We 
have before us more than one hundred acres 
with scarcely a tree or vestige of grass, heaved 
up from internal pressure, with geysers and hot 
springs pouring out hot water and steam. Some 
of them are very active. This elevation extends 
westward for more than a mile, and is dotted 
by many hot springs and geysers. 

The first we meet on our travel westward is 
the Bee Hive. This is a very attractive piece 
26 






of construction; about ten feet at the base and 
built up to a height of four feet and a diameter 
of three feet. The exit is about twenty inches 
in diameter. This, like others of its kind, in the 
park, is built up layer upon layer. Its opening 
is so choked that when the fellow gets on a steam 
pressure, it shoots fully two hundred feet high. 
It makes a beautiful sight from the veranda at 
old Faithful Hotel. Its eruption occurs very ir¬ 
regularly, spreading over a space of from twelve 
hours to forty days. Persons can approach to 
the immediate edge of this geyser in safety. 
When it erupts, the water is so intensely hot 
and goes up so straight and high, that persons 
need not feel the least danger. 

I studied this geyser with great amusement. 
Close at its base is a small opening through 
which water spouts two or three feet high about 
ten minutes before the Bee Hive acts. No doubt 
the feeding of its water supply must be very ir¬ 
regular. There are times when it pours forth 
several times in rapid succession; then again it 
may go for weeks without action. 

West of the Bee Hive, some twenty rods, is 
the Giantess Geyser. Here is a very good ex¬ 
ample of one of the outlets of this internal dis¬ 
turbance. It is located on a prominent point built 
up by lime deposit and furnishes a splendid view 
27 


from the Inn. The opening in its crater is twenty- 
five feet in diameter, and continues this size to 
a great depth. When the Giantess begins to act, 
she forces the greater portion of her immense 
volume of water into the air. Enough water is 
forced out at a time to cause rivulets of water 
to pour into Firehole River nearby. One of the 
peculiar features of the Giantess is, after this 
great volume of water is forced into the air small 
spouts shoot out from fifty to one hundred feet 
high which slant in dififerent directions. This pe¬ 
culiar condition continues for hours or until the 
crater is again filled with water. The Giantess 
acts in from fifteen to twenty-five days and lasts 
ten to twenty hours, spouting one hundred and 
fifty feet high. After the water in the crater is 
completely exhausted and for the first hour or 
two of its refilling, great volumes of steam es¬ 
cape. This is produced by the cold water com¬ 
ing in contact with the already heated inner sur¬ 
face. As the water is expelled and cool water 
fills in below taking the place of the hot water, 
great vibrations are produced and tremors are 
felt for long distances. 

Should the Giantess take on action in the 
night, the roaring wakes the guests at the Inn. 
Soon vibrations are felt much like those of an 
earthquake. 


28 


The Giantess forces out more water at 
one time than any other geyser in the park. The 
roaring of steam, the vibrations and the shocks 
felt while it refills, go to show what might 
occur should this intra-disturbance be dealt out 
in quantity at a time. 

A little farther west -and slightly to the left 
of Giantess, we observe Sponge Geyser, a queer 
little upheaval. It resembles in shape and color 
a giant sponge and is made attractive by this 
peculiar oddity. 

Still further west and close to Firehole 
River, we meet a whole family, father, mother 
and children, the Lion, Lioness and their Cubs. 

The Lion acts once in six to ten hours; lasts 
eight minutes and spouts sixty feet high. 

The Lioness acts once in fifteen or twenty 
days and spouts one hundred feet high. 

Cub (Big) acts once in four to eight days 
and spouts thirty feet high and lasts ten minutes. 

Cub (Little) does not act so often and spouts 
ten feet high and lasts three minutes. 

We have standing out before us on a promi¬ 
nent elevation, a characteristic American family. 
If you study them individually or collectively, 
you will soon observe that there is no family 
tie, as far as their activity goes, just as inde¬ 
pendent of each other as any four persons 


29 


could be. I must say that just like children in 
any family, they are not always alone, for there 
are times when the Big Cub acts with the Moth¬ 
er; sometimes with the Father; sometimes with 
the Little Sister and sometimes alone. His lit¬ 
tle sister is just as independent as her big broth¬ 
er, but there are times when peace and harmony 
prevails and both children act with the good 
will of the Mother. Not so with the Father. 
He seems to be an outcast for it is very seldom 
that either of the children and Father act to¬ 
gether. 

As I sit and study these independent pieces 
of irregular nature, I see a lesson as well as a 
moral: 

The Father and the Mother have lived very 
independent lives; neither were taught to de¬ 
pend on the other and surely the children were 
brought up to be just as independent. Do you 
notice how the child’s love will sometimes be 
with the father and sometimes with the mother? 
Then again it will be entirely independent of 
either. 

Standing out alone much to our right is a 
boiling spring, known as Solitary. It is of little 
importance compared with its near relatives. It 
is back considerable distance from the river. 


30 


CHAPTER VI. 


Spouted forth thy tinted waters 


Returning near the river, we come to a spring 
of boiling and heaving water, called Spasmodic. 
The lime deposit about its exit is slowly closing 
in and in time it will be one of the geyser fam¬ 
ily. It now spurts four or five feet high and 
lasts two minutes. This occurs once in two to 
four hours. 

Near by and close to the north bank of Fire- 
hole River, we come to Sawmill Geyser. jDn the 
surface it looks like a pool rather than a geyser, 
but looking down into its clear water, a con¬ 
stricted lime formation can be seen. This nar¬ 
rowed condition near the surface retards the 
force of the steam beneath until sufficient pres¬ 
sure is effected to force the water through the 


31 






body of hot water on the surface. Once in two 
to four hours it forces water thirty feet high 
and lasts as long as two hours at times. As the 
exit becomes more constricted the higher the 
water will shoot. 

Nearby is the Grand Geyser built up on a 
prominence and close beisde the Turban. The 
action of the Grand is quite different than any 
of the other geysers in this group. In fact, dif¬ 
ferent from any other in the park. 

The eruptions of the Grand are very irregu¬ 
lar, ranging all the way from two days to three 
weeks and lasting from one half hour to one 
and a half hours. The action is most beautiful, 
especially so should the sun be shining. 

When the Grand begins its action, small 
spouts of water shoot out in all directions. As. 
the force becomes greater, it increases in height 
and beauty until it reaches two hundred feet or 
more. Just imagine water forced two hundred 
feet high in small rope like jets and continuing 
for more than an hour with the search light or 
the sun playing with her threads of water, drop¬ 
ping to the surface below in large, sparkling 
beads. Into the depth of this crater the lime de¬ 
posit has no doubt formed a perforated covering 
through which this water is forced, causing the 
fohked shape that looks so bewitching. The 


32 



A Pebble 50 ft. 


in diameter 














































































































































































duration of its activity is such that visitors have 
ample time to travel for some distance before 
it ceases. 

At one side of the Grand, flowing out of a 
fissure' is the Turban Geyser which acts more 
frequently and with less force. 

The action of the Grand and Turban com¬ 
pared with each other act together or rather at 
the same time. When this condition does occur, 
we have one of the sights not soon to be for¬ 
gotten. 

Economic is not far away. It has its own in¬ 
dividual peculiarities. Its eruptions are very 
sudden and varying in duration. It has spells 
of spouting water into the air fifteen or twenty 
feet high. Following the action of the Grand 
Geyser, it frequently has spells and acts every 
five minutes for as long as two days. It de¬ 
rives its name from its stinginess. All the water 
spouted out, flows back into the crater from 
which it came a few minutes before. 

We next come to Punch Bowl, named so from 
resemblance to a punch bowl so shaped by the 
deposit of lime as the boiling water passes over 
the edges. This deposit has caused an elevation 
of about six feet with an opening on top of six 
or eight feet, the water boiling much like that 
of a large kettle with fire underneath. A little 


33 


opening on one side adds much to its curious 
beauty. The distance of nine miles we have 
traveled has produced at least one hundred hot 
springs and geysers. 

Grotto Geyser is one of the most peculiar 
from a constructive standpoint. As we look at 
it from the buggy, only a few feet away, we 
observe various cave like openings of very pe¬ 
culiar shapes. Its eruptions occur four times 
daily lasting thirty minutes. The waters do not 
shoot high on account of its peculiar construc¬ 
tions—it being quite roofed over with the same 
lime deposit. A short distance away is another 
opening that becomes very active during tl^e 
activity of the Grotto Geyser. 

In close proximity to Firehole River like a 
great many of these geysers, we find Giant 
Geyser. This geyser is about a mile from Old 
Faithful Inn. It has a cone about ten feet high 
and all around its base hot water oozes, no doubt 
having a direct connection with the geyser. This 
cone has a base of about sixty feet. Owing to 
the cone’s being broken on one side you can see 
into its crater, which continually boils and 
splashes. The Giant Geyser plays about once in 
a week. Immense columns of water are forced 
into the air about two hundred and fifty feet. 
Lucky for us its week is up and we see it spout 


34 


forth this morning as we stand in front of the 
Inn. The sun’s rays playing upon its active 
waters bring out beautiful colors not unlike that 
of a rainbow, only that large beads of sparkling 
water are dropping to the surrounding lime- 
covered cone beneath. I might say here that noth¬ 
ing but calcareous deposit is found, everything 
is lime. The rocks, the ground, the dust and 
even the water is so, persons dare not drink it. 
The water after falling to the surrounding sur¬ 
face forms lime stone, even to such an extent 
that it covers large pools of water—even lakes 
containing acres of hot water become wholly or 
partly covered in time, so that mankind can walk 
on it and investigate its wonderful surroundings. 

Little do some people realize as they stand 
or walk on this lime formed surface what are 
the conditions below. Just for one moment stop 
and consider here is a tract of land fifty-three 
by sixty-one miles, heaved up to an elevation 
of from six thousand to fourteen thousand feet 
and the whole or nearly so is built upon a lime 
foundation, through which water percolates, and 
passing over a heated interior, becomes so hot 
that it forms steam which forces it to the surface 
and in many instances it even forces it high into 
the air. This pressure seems to exert itself under¬ 
neath all the park, through it would seem, sub- 


35 


terranean channels. As you pass through the 
park, look in any direction and you will see it 
seeking relief from this pent up condition by 
spouting steam or water, or both into the air. 
As I look upon this phenomenon, this internal 
purgatory with its fire-hot water lakes beneath 
and its lime formation about its exit choking off 
more and more its freedom of escape, I should 
not be surprised to learn at any time that the 
pressure underneath had become greater than 
usual and with one dull thud and tremor, these 
magnificent cliffs would add their crumblings to 
the valley beneath. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Add to Nature’s Beauty 


1 see I am soliloquizing again. We are rap¬ 
idly approaching the Inn, one of the finest hotels 
in the park, built at a cost of $200,000, I might 
say there is nothing equal to it in artistic archi¬ 
tecture in the whole country. The building is 
more than three hundred feet long and two hun¬ 
dred and fifty feet wide, built of Norway Pine 
logs, gotten from the surrounding hills. When 
I say built of logs, I mean logs. The outside 
walls of logs, the partitions of logs, posts and 
braces of logs; all beams of logs, ceilings as if 
logs—it being ceiled with slabs cut from *the 
outer surface of the logs, then nailed over-head 
so as to look just as if the real logs were built 
in. In fact, the only boards used are in the 
floors. The veranda is forty by one hundred fifty 
feet, with concrete floors. The columns are 


37 







built in squares, four feet square and of logs, 
beginning with those ten inches thick at the 
bottom and using smaller and smaller ones until 
at the top of the column they are but five inches 
thick. The railing about the veranda is of small 
trees; even the braces inside and outside the 
hotel are of selected oddities from the woods to 
fit their individual places. A chimney sixteen 
feet square is built in the reception hall with a 
grate on either side and one in each corner of 
the chimney as well. About the fire-place are 
many useful receptacles, made from beautiful 
pine knots, such as tobacco boxes, salt boxes, 
match boxes, etc. Just imagine your bedroom 
or bath room, even the hall leading through the 
hotel, of logs, on all sides as well as overhead. 
The hotel has every convenience that any city 
hotel could have. Placed on top of the hotel 
is an old fashioned dinner bell, which peals out 
the joyful tidings of an approaching meal. Be¬ 
side it is a large search light used evenings for 
the amusement of the guests—embarrassment 
of some. 

The dining room in the hotel is fifty by one 
hundred feet; one story with a self supporting 
roof built entirely of logs. It is here that an 
architect might spend many enjoyable hours of 
useful study. 


38 


Robert C. Reamer, architect and designer of 
the Inn, also of the Colonial Hotel at Yellow¬ 
stone Lake, and of the depot at Gardner has 
furnished plans for a new hotel, which now 
is under the process of construction, to replace 
the old one at the canyon. 

While man has done much to add to the 
beauty of this spot in Yellowstone Park, nature 
has outdone him many fold; as I sit on the 
veranda I can count at least forty steaming, 
spurting or spouting vents to this terrible in¬ 
ternal disturbance. The most famous of all, 
known to all intelligent readers is Old Faithful, 
not over ten rods from my seat of observation at 
Old Faithful Inn. I have timed her now for 
sixty-five minutes, the allotted time for pouring 
forth her accumulated volume of hot and boil¬ 
ing water, sixty-six, sixty-seven, sixty-eight and 
sixty-nine minutes have passed; now I hear a 
terrible roaring like a distant train of cars. Soon 
small spurts of water shoot out; now large vol¬ 
umes shoot into the air fifty to a hundred feet 
and now a hundred and fifty feet. Its spouting 
lasts for five minutes. To see her heave you 
must believe she is making up for lost time. I 
was glad she took the extra four minutes for the 
sight was worth the loss of time. You say why 
does she shoot at such regular time, and has 


39 


done so day and night, summer and winter, ever 
since her acquaintance with mankind and who 
knows how much longer? 

While sitting here watching the search light 
play with her beautiful diamond jeweled thread¬ 
like spurts of water, I am asked my diagnosis 
of Old Faithful’s trouble. 

The causes in my opinion are three-fold—heat, 
water and a peculiar shaped cavern or receptacle. 
Underneath this whole park is fire, some com¬ 
bustible smoldering substance which at this im¬ 
mediate spot must maintain an even temperature. 
Over this heat or fire is formed a layer of rock, 
which in this individual case is limestone. Upon 
this layer of rock and into a- cavern flows water 
which becomes heated and when at a certain tem¬ 
perature spouts forth through a peculiar shaped 
exit. Then I would say the heat must be uni¬ 
form, the receptacle remain of an exact capacity, 
the water flowing into it on exact time, the cav¬ 
ity choked at the top so as to give the steam a 
chance to exert pressure sufficient to force this 
volume of water to a height of an hundred and 
fifty-feet. 

The Old Faithful, of course, attracts the tour¬ 
ists’ attention more on account of the regularity 
with which it acts, but she is not all the attrac¬ 
tion here. If not for the peculiar action of Old 


40 


Yellowstone River Bridge 400 ft. long in the distance 















Faithful, any of the following within sight of 
the Inn might be very attractive: Butterfly, Bee¬ 
hive, Giantess, Sponge, Beach, Lion, Lioness, 
Cubs, Surprise, Spasmodic, Sawmill, Grand, 
Turban, Beauty Springs, Three Sisters, and the 
Handkerchief. This last so named from the fact 
if you place a handkerchief in the pool it dis- 
apears immediately only to return thoroughly 
cleaned. 

The facts in the case are, suction draws it 
down and the action of the alkali in the water 
dissolves the dirt and it returns quite clean. At 
this point bears come up near the hotel to eat the 
refuse thrown out. We saw two brown and one 
black bear. One grizzly came up later, but we 
did not see it. 


41 


CHAPTER VIII. 


Continental Devide—“The best 
friends must sometimes part.” 


We are off for Yellowstone Lake. This drive 
of nineteen miles would be of little interest if it 
were not through a solid forest of Norway 
Pine. It is in the depths of these musical pines 
that we hear the roar of water and we soon are 
near Firehole River again. We now are round¬ 
ing a bend in the river and the beautiful Kepler’s 
cascade meets our eyes, with a fall of one 
hundred and fifty feet in a distance of a quarter 
of a mile. The water leaps from .rock to rock 
and from crag to crag—so thin in some places 
that the deep coloring matter in the rocks be¬ 
neath can be plainly seen. As we look through 
the clear water its colors blending with the 
rocks beneath making delicate tints from dark to 
light green over brown colored boulders sur- 


42 




rounded on one side by evergreen pines and the 
mountains on the other, a person would feel very 
much “inspired/’ as a poet would say. 

Soon we leave the basin and proceed on a 
gradual ascent. We climb higher and higher 
through pine forests. We finally reach one 
of our high points and are informed that we 
are now resting on the Continental Divide. Up¬ 
on this summit is a “Two ocean ponda small 
lake fed by melting snows. This lake has two 
outlets, one flowing into Yellowstone River 
thence into the Missouri and to the Atlantic. The 
other flows westward into the Snake and through 
the Columbia into the Pacific. Isa Lake is also 
a two ocean pond. 

We reached the southwest corner of Yellow¬ 
stone Lake at 11130 and had lunch at the 
Thumb Hotel. 

This is another point of considerable interest. 
In Yellowstone Lake a short distance from shore 
there is a cone known as Fishing Cone. The hot 
alkali water boiling up for years has deposited 
lime making a cone several feet above the sur¬ 
face of the lake. It is here that you can stand 
on the cone and fish, hang them into the boiling 
water and cook them. Extending back from the 
lake to a distance of about thirty rods and ris¬ 
ing to the height of from ten to fifty feet are 


43 


boiling springs and lakes of various kinds. Some 
of these send forth boiling water, some steam, 
some sulphur and some mud. Two are of a 
pasty substance like alabastine boiling hot. One 
pool is pink while its next neighbor only ten feet 
away is gray. While looking over these many 
queer conditions I spied three large deer, two 
with horns, one without. They trotted into the 
woods. 

Leaving the Thumb Hotel at 1130 we made a 
long and dusty drive of sixteen miles; an up¬ 
grade of five miles in one stretch reaching an 
altitude of nearly ten thousand feet. We follow¬ 
ed to a great extent the west shore of Yellow¬ 
stone Lake. On this drive we met many people 
on horse back, in covered wagons, and some on 
foot making the park. 

At 4:30 p. m. we reached Colonial or Lake 
Hotel, located on the north bank of Yellowstone 
Lake. It is a modern hotel, three hundred and 
fifty feet long, finished in mission. The sitting 
room in beam ceiling; reception hall fifty by one 
hundred and thirty feet; dining room % fifty by 
one hundred feet—also furnished in mission. It 
has one hundred eighty-three bed rooms with 
two hundred ninety rooms in all. At this point I 
saw two more deer making five to-day, two 
wolves, fourteen bears and two cubs. 


44 


Fishing in Yellowstone Lake is fine. Trout 
ten to fourteen incehs, weighing from three- 
quarters to a pound and a quarter, are caught in 
abundance. We see people coming with strings 
of ten to twenty caught within an hour. There 
are practically no restrictions on fishing here, but 
the most rigid ones are enforced with regards to 
the animals. You are not expected to go near 
bears without a soldier as an escort. 

The next morning following our stopping at 
the hotel a deer was found sleeping with our 
horses and the bears had robbed the kitchen of 
one of the cottagers. 

We go into the woods accompanied by a 
soldier to see bears with cubs. It was at this 
point two very interesting incidents occured in 
the bear family. The cubs are mischievous ani¬ 
mals ; they box, tumble and stand on their hind 
feet and wrestle very much to our amusement— 
much like children. They often go beyond their 
jurisdiction. 

. One old mother bear made repeated trips from 
the woods to a spot in the clear where some 
other bears were eating. Why she spent so much 
time traveling to and fro, was a quandary in the 
minds of those watching her, but they soon learn¬ 
ed she was trying to get her cubs to come out 
and eat with the rest of the bears. Upon her 


45 


failure at moral suasion, she picked one of 
the cubs up by the back of- the neck as a cat 
would her kitten, carried it out and laid it down 
among the rest of the bears. The cub soon 
caught the habit and began eating. 

Another mother bear became very much 
alarmed because her cub climbed up a tree. She 
went up after him but the tree was not strong 
enough to bear her weight. As the cub climbed 
out to the end of the limbs, she gave up in des¬ 
pair and returned to the ground. After some 
earnest solicitations on the part of the mother 
bear, the evil spirited cub came down, only to 
receive one severe boxing at the hands—paws— 
of the mother. 

Some of the maneuvers of these cubs in their 
semi-wild state are most amusing and are en¬ 
joyed by a great many pafik visitors. 

As we look out over the Yellowstone Lake 
this morning, walled in by snow-capped moun¬ 
tains from 10,000 to 12,000 feet high, covered 
with Norway Pine reflecting their green foliage 
into its deep waters, studded with magnificent 
islands just conveniently placed to break the 
monotony and keeping you continually on the 
lookout to see what will pop up to astonish you 
next, little do we realize that we are gazing up¬ 
on a lake 774 1 feet above the sea level and the 


46 


largest fresh water lake in the world at this al¬ 
titude, except Lake Titticaca in Peru. 

Yellowstone Lake is twenty miles long and 
sixteen miles wide. In a great many places, 
soundings have failed to determine its depths. 
Keep in mind that there are hot water springs 
walled up through these unknown depths and de¬ 
posit their hot alkali waters into this lake. 


47 


CHAPTER IX. 


Thy clear and peaceful waters. 
Thy rapids and thy falls— 
O Yellowstone, 


We leave for Canyon Hotel located sixteen 
miles down Yellowstone River at the Great 
Falls and the beginning of the Grand Canyon of 
the Yellowstone. We will have breakfast, lunch, 
dinner and lodging here, which gives us am¬ 
ple time to go through the Grand Canyon. 

We couldn’t have had a more stimulating 
drive in the cool mountain air with the moun¬ 
tains densely covered with pines and the ground 
strewn with wild flowers of the most delicate 
shades of blue, red, pink, purple and yellow, 
throwing out their perfume so that their frag¬ 
rance is noticeable from our buggy—this on our 
left; while on our right we look down deep into 
the water of the Yellowstone River just simply 
alive with trout. They float on top of the water 
48 







Firehole River and Kepplers Cascade 













in great schools, leaping into the air after flies. 
They seem to care little for our presence. As 
we drive near the water’s edge, so near you could 
cast your hook into the river from the buggy, 
they still remain near us. On this forenoon’s 
drive, we saw hundreds, yes, thousands of them. 

I note the following wild flowers as we drive 
along and the soldier guard picked some of them 
for the ladies; larkspur, monk’s hood, wildflax, 
snapdragon, buttercup, golden-rod, columbine, 
golden rag-weed, widow’s leaves, wild onion, 
gentian, fire-weed, speedwell, Queen Ansley, In¬ 
dian Paint Brush. 

The only point of interest seen on this drive 
as a result of the internal disturbance of hades, 
was a mud geyser and Green Gable Spring. This 
Green Gable Spring boils up a very dark green 
water, not very attractive for drinking purpoess. 
It contains a great deal of sulphur—which im¬ 
parts to it a nauseating odor. 

The mud geyser ceased its action twelve years 
ago. This lasted but a short time, when she 
belched forth volumes of hot mud shooting hun¬ 
dreds of feet, into the air, causing one of the 
most phenomenal sights ever witnessed. The 
results of this volcanic eruption is still visible; 
mud still clings to the trees about the boiling 
spring. 


49 


The once peaceful Yellowstone now becomes a 
vision of rapids, which is hard to describe. The 
water in this river is so clear that it has a green¬ 
ish look and as it ripples over the large rocks in 
the bottom of the river, it brings out some very 
pleasing colors. These rapids soon lead us to 
the Upper Fall which makes a descent of 112 
feet, only to roll and splash rapidly on to Crystal 
Fall which makes a descent of 130 feet. As the 
water dashes down from table to table of rock, 
I look into the water with the morning sun on 
the opposite side, and as the large drops of water 
leap into space only to land on the next rock 
shelf below, I have the impression of thousands 
of diamonds throwing out their bright and spar¬ 
kling light. 

Why tarry here, when less than a quarter of 
a mile distant we look down from the mountain 
top to The Great Falls fifteen hundred feet be¬ 
low and see a fall of tossing and rushing water 
leaping 360 feet to the river below or twice that 
of the Niagara, with its volume of deep green 
water, gradually changing to a lighter green as 
it becomes thinner, spreading out over more 
space intermingled with the white foam and the 
deep richly colored rocks beneath. From this fall 
winds a snake like river, sixty to one hundred 
feet wide (looks but thirty from the top of the 


50 


mountain). It is so crooked that you can see 
but a little of it at a time. 

I drove through the canyon with others and 
became so impressed that after we returned to 
the hotel, I stole back to a convenient point of 
observation. It was a projection far out into the 
canyon. The rock is of crumbling lime, and as 
I crawled out, the soft rock crumbled beneath 
my feet and dropped to the river 1,500 feet be¬ 
low. 

As 1 gaze to the opposite side of the canyon, 
its extent is so great that it seems as the 
gray dawn of the morning; its golden rays pierc¬ 
ing the rocks from its topmost point of golden 
yellow with a shadow of dark brown changing 
to a lighter and still lighter tint as it crumbles 
and is mixed with the cream and white crumbl¬ 
ing rock trinkling down the mountain side, stain¬ 
ed in its midst by a deep blood red rock, as if the 
dagger had been thrust to the heart, and the 
life blood poured forth, staining the already deli¬ 
cately mixed colors, intermingling yellow, white 
and red, and is soon lost in the river below. 

I arose from this vision of reality and re¬ 
traced my steps only to observe that the rock 
upon which I was meditating but a few moments 
before had great crevices from the freezing of 
the previous winter. 


51 


My retreat brought me into a field of new 
beauty. Standing before me are spires towering 
high into the air, building up from the rock 
below much like the hand of man might contrive. 
No—even more beautiful. Layer upon layer, it 
has built up from the mother rock far below, col¬ 
ored with red, yellow, blue and purple. The col¬ 
ors are so distinct, they glare in the bright sun¬ 
light. 

In my study of one of these towering monu¬ 
ments of nature, I observe sticks as it were, on 
the top of the highest among them. Through 
my field glass, two downy forms are seen, aris¬ 
ing, shaking themselves—again resuming their 
perch upon the nest of sticks. They are young 
eagles, nested upon the top of one of these sharp 
spires, not over four feet in diameter. From 
their lofty perch, they can survey the mountain 
top and look down into the river fifteen hundred 
feet below. They seem to be content and I think 
they need fear no intrusion from mankind. 

I, myself, don’t seem to be on real, solid foot¬ 
ing, and as I turn about facing north, a still 
greater field of new wonder and beauty seems to 
rise before me. I rest my eyes for a minute until 
the mists of fatigue pass by. 

The fresh crumbling stones through which the 
Yellowstone River has cut her way down for 


52 


two thousand feet, reflect their colors of 
delicate yellow, purple, green and orange. Pierced 
as it were with the golden rays of the noonday 
sun, changing into the delicate shades of even¬ 
tide, soon they all intermingle, making such 
shade and colors that would cause the man on 
“Artist’s Point” to halt in wonderment. Just 
here a rock of bright red adds its crumbling 
grains of renewed brightness and beauty, tinting 
the purple, the yellow and the golden orange 
with fire and zeal trinkling down the mountain 
side, changing into the soft shades of a peace¬ 
ful twilight mounted in its background with 
snow white clouds bordered with the fire red 
rays of the setting sun. 

I noticed the artist’s brush had dropped from 
his hand as I arose with eyes dimmed. I could 
hear the winds whisper—“Oh, Nature.” 

The coloring matter of the Yellowstone Can¬ 
yon no doubt is the richest and yet the most deli¬ 
cate of its kind in the world. 

I have repeatedly reminded you that this rock 
is of limestone. That of the Royal Gorge, 
South Cheyenne Canyon, Garden of the Gods 
and the scenery to Cripple Creek and through 
Ogden Canyon is more of the sand stone vari¬ 
ety. 

As we return from the canyon we leave the 


63 


mountain tops and descend a stair of five hun¬ 
dred steps leading down to the Great Falls. From 
here we see the river 360 feet below. It looks 
like a large green snake picking its way through 
a deep and crooked channel and soon is lost be¬ 
hind some projecting cliff as suddenly as if it 
had plunged bodily into the mountain side. 
While resting at the falls we observe five men 
and one woman descending the mountain from 
the opposite side of the river. Sometimes they 
walk, sometimes they run and sometimes they 
slide. ■ The woman seems not properly clad for 
mountain climbing. There are times when we 
surely think they will lose their hold and go over 
the ledge into the maddened river below, but they 
hold on. After enough hard work to earn six 
months’ salary they reached the water’s edge. 
With great demonstrations, as if they had reach¬ 
ed the fountain of youth or the goal of the prom¬ 
ised land they dipped their fingers into the water 
and were ready to return. I wondered why they 
didn’t soak their heads for I know they surely 
needed it. Where we were we could have fallen 
in all over and made just as big fools of our¬ 
selves and could have done it with one-half the 
exertion. We watched them make their labor¬ 
ious return. Through the field glass we could 
see the woman (of sixty) gasp, heave, and pant 


54 


as if there were a vacancy somewhere about her 
that needed filling. I believe if I should at¬ 
tempt such a trip down the mountain, and 
back up again, I would take some person along 
to do my breathing for me. I doubt the wisdom 
of a person trying to make the ascent of 2,000 
feet up the mountain side at this point and doing 
his own respiring. One man with a lot of pull, 
another with the proper push and with her 
“stickability” she reached the top—more dead 
than alive. 

We return to the Canyon Hotel, after seeing 
some deer. Twenty-two bears were seen during 
our stay of twenty hours at this hotel. The 
Canyon Hotel is now being replaced by a mag¬ 
nificent structure, one that will vie with all other 
structures built in the park. It is on an elevation 
whose altitude is near the 8,000 ft. mark. From 
this hotel I look out over the mountains, some 
of them reaching 14,000 feet and have perpetual 
snow. As I look out over this vast mountain 
region, covered with Norway Pines, my eyes car¬ 
ry me fully fifty miles. It reminds me of one 
vast field of waving corn. So great is its extent 
that the intervening openings are not observed. 


55 


CHAPTER X. 


The nimble deer, the sluggish bear 


We leave Canyon Hotel at 8:30 and drive fif¬ 
teen miles arriving at Norris at 11 a. m. This 
drive is most stimulating to the lover of a beau¬ 
tiful pine forest. For miles we drive in the 
shade of this wall of nature from one hundred 
to one hundred and fifty feet high on either side 
of the road. The drive is more stimulated by 
the sudden appearance of a mother deer with her 
baby fawn; so young its legs bend under the 
weight of its tiny body. With a mother’s pride 
she litsens to our admiration of her young. 
“Poor kid if you can’t say some good of it.” 
She seems to enjoy our company. A little farther 
on we saw a spiked deer lying on a'high bank 
waiting for the amateur with his camera and as 
the horses came to a halt he arose, stepped out 
66 






A Mountain Scene 













into the sun—the camera snapped and we were 
off.' Before we were out of sight he was seen 
to resume his position under the same shady tree. 

The next day we had occasion to pass the same 
point and Mr. Deer was there ahead of us wait¬ 
ing for another picture. 

After a drive of about three miles from the 
canyon we came to the Virginia Cascade. This 
is very unlike the other cascades or falls in the 
park. It is not noted for the vast amount of 
water pouring over its rocks so much as it is 
the nature of its distribution. Consider first the 
rocks are of a red and a deep brown color tinted 
with purple and grey over which water, clear as 
crystal ripples for one-half mile; dropping from 
layer to layer of rock, digging out basins in the 
ledge below, which thins the water so that it be¬ 
comes a frosty white, as it bounds from one 
depression to another. While this amuses you 
on your left, upon your right is a beautiful road 
one hundred feet above the river, artistically dug 
out of the side of a solid rock, reaching five hun¬ 
dred feet above us. The ledge projects out over 
us so far that it would seem that the shifting of 
a few grains of sand would deliver us to the 
angry torrents of Miss Virginia, who is dipping 
her hands in the maddened waters below. 

Lunch is waiting upon our arrival at Norris. 

57 


This hotel is conveniently located so as to give 
tourists an opportunity to inspect a great many 
geysers and hot springs. We have two steam 
geysers, the Hurricane and Black Growler. The 
Hurricane is near the hotel and its roar of steam 
is much like the exhaust of a locomotive when 
high steam pressure is on. Black Growler is 
about one-half mile to the west. This was once 
a hot spring twenty feet in diameter but with the 
deposit of lime it has crusted over until there is 
a complete cone covering the top with the excep¬ 
tion of a few outlets from which steam escapes 
making a peculiar sound much like that of a dog, 
hence its name. Occasionally water will be 
forced out with the steam. It is almost black 
and has a very foul odor, due no doubt, to the 
deposit of sulphur. I examined the dry products 
in this basin and found in some places from 
twenty-five to fifty per cent, of sulphur. 

Fearless Geyser is near the hotel. This geyser 
spouts out steam and water once in about three 
hours. It acted while we were there. 

Minute Geyser (so named from its action of 
one to three minutes) is forced through a fis¬ 
sure in the rocks. It spouts fifteen or twenty 
feet high. One peculiar feature of this geyser 
is the water spouted out flows back into the same 
pool from which it came but a minute before. 


58 


We leave the road and travel about fifty rods 
to the east up to the foot of the mountains (ot 
highly colored rocks) where we find Monarch 
Geyser. It has two oblong openings, one about 
eighteen feet long and three feet wide; the other 
one-half as large. There is considerable danger 
here as the Monarch erupts without warning and 
spouts one hundred feet high, not one eruption 
but sometimes a dozen in succession. It usually 
sends out its volume of hot water once in six 
hours. 

Emerald Pool—named from its color—is lo¬ 
cated a short distance from Black Growler. This 
is a spring about forty feet in diameter and has 
a beautiful emerald tint; the rock sides being 
covered with sulphur, reflect the sunlight and 
enable us to see into it to a great depth. The 
temperature in the edge of the pool registers one 
hundred eighty degrees. For a great many years 
there existed a “Steam Vent.” Great columns 
of steam escaped from a crack in the rock and 
it could be heard for miles. In 1893 this vent 
closed and no more steam escaped for some time. 

Great eruptions of a volcanic nature occurred, 
completely blocking the road with earth and rock. 
It is the largest spring in this basin. It is fast 
forming a cone deposit of lime formation about 
its exit. As this forty foot opening becomes 


69 


more and more choked or closed in with this 
deposit the more it takes the nature of a geyser. 
It now has an occasional spasm that forces its 
volumes of pale blue water fifteen to twenty feet 
into the air. In the center of this basin is Con¬ 
stant Geyser, twenty-five feet in diameter, the 
water as clear as crystal. It spouts for one- 
half minute, rests one-third of a minute, then re¬ 
peats itself. It throws its water about twenty- 
five feet high. Near Emerald Pool and close up 
to the mountain of large and deep yellow colored 
rocks is new Crater Geyser. In the fall of 1891 a 
terrible eruption was noticed in this locality and 
it was then that the new Crater Geyser was 
formed. Great volumes of hot water poured 
forth flooding the valley. It now has settled 
down to real business and eruptions occur once 
in three minutes. While in this basin I find a 
geyser about six feet in diameter. It has no 
name so I called it Sieve Geyser from its peculiar 
action. It at one time, no doubt, forced water 
eight or ten feet high, but the lime formation 
about its exit crowded in until it has covered it 
completely over excepting about one hundred 
small openings through which the pressure be¬ 
neath forces spouts of water three feet high mak¬ 
ing a rather amusing sight. 

A great many geysers and hot springs are lo- 


00 


cated at and about Norris, which I have not 
space to describe. 

While taking lunch at Norris Hotel I heard 
women screaming. Feeling assured some one 
had toppled over the brink of some geyser, I 
rushed out to find that a brown bear in making 
a short cut came between them and the hotel. 

The bear was attending strictly to his own 
business. He nodded, winked one eye, smiled at 
the crowd and soon disappeared in the woods 
back of the hotel. 


61 


CHAPTER XI. 


Through thy leaves, the peaceful 
music flows. 


We leave Norris at 1130. The first point of 
interest north of Norris is Twin Lake, about 
three-fourths mile long and very deep, close to 
the foot of the mountain and near the road. 
Traveling in a northerly direction through dense 
pine timber for about eight miles we come upon 
two intensely interesting features. On the west 
side of the drive we have Beaver Lake. It is a 
mile long and a quarter of a mile wide, rather 
shallow, with lilies and willows growing in many 
places. The beavers live here and have built a 
series of dams, from the willows, about four 
feet high and ranging from ten to thirty rods 
apart making very convenient swimming pools 
for them. A great many beaver houses are built 
and occupied on the farther side of the lake at 


62 






the foot of the mountains. In these quiet and 
shallow waters we saw a great many wild geese 
and cranes with their flocks of young, swimming 
near the road—not the least bit shy. In the last 
few years these birds have learned to love this 
quietude and they seem to know that they are 
protected. We have scarcely admired the downy 
little fellows when a reflection of light flashes 
into our faces as from a large mirror. Looking 
up on our right we face a cliff of real glass. 
This is Obsidian Cliff. We have Obsidian Cliff 
on our right with Beaver Lake on our left. Ob¬ 
sidian means glass formed by volcanic eruption. 
It is usually black—it proves to be so in this 
case. At the time of the volcanic eruption great 
heat may have come in contact with certain kinds 
of sand, producing this glass. Obsidian Cliff 
was of great interest to certain Indian tribes in 
early days. They first met here to make arrow 
heads from this glass and after the superior 
quality of this glass had been conveyed to dif¬ 
ferent tribes they used this cliff as a point for 
peace offerings. While the older Indians gave 
their peace offerings the younger Indians made 
arrow heads. These peculiar glass arrowheads 
have been found hundreds of miles from here. 

Our drive leads around this mountain for 
about sixty rods. In building this road up 


63 


against the side of this cliff it was necessary to 
blast out the rock to make room. The engineer 
soon found that ordinary explosives as were 
usually used had no effect here. They finally 
piled wood upon the glass and after heating this 
surface they poured water upon it and this so 
shattered the glass rock that after a great deal 
of difficulty they succeeded in making the only 
glass road in the world. 

Appollinaris Spring is located midway be¬ 
tween Norris and Mammoth Hot Springs or at 
the ten mile point. 

This peculiar mineral water is relished by 
thousands of tourists every year. It is as re¬ 
freshing *as the real commercial article. This is 
the only mineral spring we meet in our drive. 
Sixteen miles north of Norris, or four miles 
south of Mammoth Hot Springs we come to the 
Golden Gate, The Silver Gate and The Hoodoos. 
A viaduct has been built, around the mountain 
at Golden Gate, by the government at a great ex¬ 
pense. There seemed no possible way to blast 
out the rocks and build the road close on the 
mountain side. So up against the side of this 
portion of Bunsen Peak a cement viaduct has 
been built. It makes a very convenient pass but 
a hazardous one as you approach it from the 
south on a down grade with horses spurred to a 


64 



A Scene in the Canyon 











trot and you make one of those quick turns. A 
person has a queer feeling - , much like going over 
the edge of the mountain. I trust that feeling 
may never be realized. The rocks that rise three 
hundred feet above the roadway and descend be¬ 
low it fully as far, have a bright yellow color. 
As we approach Golden Gate we drive close to a 
small stream fed by the melting snow. Close to 
Golden Gate it makes a series of falls—in all it 
descends about fifty feet. It has a very enchant¬ 
ing look as it winds down the crooked course 
it has cut into the rocks. I judge in the season 
of high water it would be a beautiful sight to see 
the great volumes of water heave and toss down 
over the picturesque rocks of yello^ and brown. 

Silver Gate is formed by short quick turns 
among the queerly constructed rocks which cover 
about five hundred acres on the west of our 
drive and is known as the Hoodoos. As we look 
over the Hoodoos we could imagine little else 
than that some great giant, centuries ago, had 
amused himself piling up large stones. 

These peculiar formations are from ten feet 
to two or three hundred feet across the base, 
building up to a height some ten and some fifty 
or more feet. They are unlike anything seen 
among the mountains. They are not mountains. 
They are simply one mammoth rock built upon 


65 


another, as children place one block upon an¬ 
other when at play. The base upon which the 
curios are formed is quite level and covers more 
than five hundred acres. Quite a contrast ap¬ 
pears immediately to our right. We have Swan 
Lake Basin where hundreds of deer and elks 
make their winter quarters. 

Swan Lake Basin is hemmed in by mountains 
ranging from 10,000 to n,i 55 ft- high and cov¬ 
ered with perpetual snow. In these mountains 
is Electric Peak. It stands out before us more 
than eleven thousand feet high and furnishes at 
times a very beautiful electric display during 
thunder-storms. It is claimed by some to be due 
to a deposit of certain minerals. It is claimed 
that the deposit of minerals interfere with the 
workings of the surveyor’s compass. We now 
make a gradual descent for three miles, which 
lowers our altitude one thousand feet, and we 
are at Mammoth Hot Springs where is located 
Fort Yellowstone with four hundred soldiers, 
who are on duty summer and winter. They pa¬ 
trol the park during the tourist season—June 
fifteenth to September fifteenth and look after 
the well being of the animals during the winter. 


66 


CHAPTER XII. 

Send forth the colors from thy depths 


The snow gets very deep, some places in the 
mountains reaching the depth of fourteen feet. 
The point of greatest interest outside the stand¬ 
ing army is Mammoth Hot Springs. Mammoth 
Hot Springs seems quite a town. The hotel is 
a very large structure and should be soon re¬ 
placed by a new one, as it is badly needed. The 
houses occupied by the soldiers are very substan¬ 
tial buildings. I saw a number of very beautiful 
Bungalows. At Mammoth Hot Springs like 
all Yellowstone Park the base is lime—calcium 
carbonate—and at this point it is thrown up as 
pure and white as any lime could be. As it lies 
on the surface it becomes “air slacked,” and in 
ascending or descending the mountain you walk 
on the pure lime. This peculiar condition is 
located a quarter of a mile south of the hotel and 
covers about one hundred acres or more at its 


67 







base, and has been raised to an elevation of two 
hundred feet above the surrounding country. 
The top covers about fifty acres and shows signs 
of once being a lake of that size, but as years 
have passed and gone the lime deposit has raised 
to a height considerably above the water and 
crusted over the top. As you walk over it and 
hear the sound beneath, a queer feeling passes 
over you. In many places this crust has broken 
in leaving a crevice around the most extreme 
borders through which hot water boils and runs 
down the mountain side. This water is so 
heavily charged with calcium carbonate, (lime) 
that it is continually building up some most 
beautiful formations. Many of them look like 
terraces built up layer upon layer. Many of 
these reach a height of from ten to fifty feet. The 
arrangement is so artistic and real that it is hard 
to believe the nature of the formation. This 
hot water contains vegetable life (algous growth) 
which exists in hot water only. It contains 
beautiful coloring matter and as the hot water 
flows down and over these terraces of pure white 
lime it takes on colors of cream, orange, yellow, 
red and purple, making a magnificent sight. 
This vegetation exists only in warm weather. 
As soon as cold weather comes and the water 
becomes chilled all this beautiful color disappears 


68 


and this mountain of pure lime stands out before 
you like a white sepulcher. The water flowing 
over the edges of this mountain of pure lime 
makes deposits—some of them one thousand 
feet in extent. They have been named according 
to their position or shape as follows; Minerva 
Terrace, Jupiter Terrace, Cleopatra Terrace, Nar¬ 
row Gauge Terrace, Angle Terrace and Hymen 
Terrace. 

At the foot of Mafnmoth Hot Springs is Lib¬ 
erty Cap, an extinct geyser fifty feet high and 
twenty feet at the base. This formation is a 
study. You can plainly see how it was built up 
layer upon layer of lime deposit while it was an 
active geyser. Near by is the Devil’s Thumb, 
it resembles its neighbor and is of the same form¬ 
ation but smaller. A short distance from here 
we have the Devil’s Kitchen. This is also an 
extinct geyser. The heat surrounding this cave 
produces a very suffocating feeling. It is entered 
by a short ladder and I would think this 
an ideal place to take a turkish bath. 

We have seen the Devil’s Half Acre, the Dev¬ 
il’s Thumb and the Devil’s Kitchen and as I take 
the park all in all I think the whole area lies near 
the old man’s abiding place. 

A few rods from the Devil’s Kitchen is locat¬ 
ed Stygion Cave. Through fissures in the floor 
69 


of this cave poisonous gases escape and cause 
the death of many birds and animals that may 
enter it for shelter. 

At Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel everything 
was different from the rest of our stopping places. 
We saw nice green lawns and cultivated flowers. 
An orchestra furnishes real civilized music out 
in this wilderness, and as the music floated out 
upon the evening air, it set into action all the 
musical brain cells we ever possessed. 

Soon the reception hall was a whirling mass 
of dancing beauty. There was the soldier in 
his blue uniform, the beautiful lass or woman, 
her cheeks browned from days of exposure to 
the burning sun, gliding over the floor, beauti¬ 
fully clad in her evening gown, surrounded with 
mirth and happiness. Little would you think 
we were in the midst of a field of geysers or the 
towering mountains and within reach of the 
stealthy bear, the charge of the buffalo or ihe 
wicked claws of the skulking mountain lion. 
Less do we care. No matter what danger may 
surround us, we are happy. Our cares and 
troubles are thousands of miles away. We have 
so forgotten our surroundings that should Mam- 
mouth Hot Springs, hundreds of feet above us, 
pour forth her volumes of boiling water, we 
would simply smile at her in our glee. 


70 


The animals in the park seem to have their 
individual herding places and this seems to be the 
buffalo’s. The buffalo have become more domes¬ 
ticated than the other wild animals. Once a day 
they are corralled by a man on horseback, and 
brought within a mile of the hotel for the benefit 
of the tourists. 


71 


CHAPTER XIII. 


The proud and stately elk 


We double back from Mammoth Hot Springs 
to Norris. From Norris we take a southwesterly 
course for twenty-eight miles to Yellowstone, 
the point of our entrance. This drive for some 
distance takes us through the Norris Basin, 
where are located more geysers and hot springs. 
Soon we plunge into a deep forest heavily timber¬ 
ed on either side of our drive. A little stroll 
into the woods from either side of the road, soon 
surprises the nimble deer or the sluggish bear. 

We soon come to the Gibbon River and this 
section is known as Elk Park. At this time of 
the year, the elk seek some lofty and shady 
point on the mountain top, where the cool, brisk 
breeze drives away the troublesome flies. At 
night they come down into the valley to feed. 

72 






Elk are not scattered over all the park, but stav 
in droves in selected spots. 

I quote from S. N. Leek’s “Out Door Life,” 
August, 1909: 

“The number of elk in this valley (meaning 
the Wyoming Valley) is placed at from 25,000 
to as high as 40,000 head. 

The superintendent of Yellowstone Park 
writes me that there are 40,000 head wintering 
there this season, 1908-1909. For fear these 
numbers seem over-rated, we will place the 
number of elk in Wyoming and in the Park at 
50,000 head. During the season, this great 
number of elk constitutes one large herd within 
the Yellowstone Park and the Wyoming State 
Game Preserve where they mingle. Over this 
great territory of 3,000,000 acres of high moun¬ 
tain country they roam at will during the sum¬ 
mer season, but as winter approaches, and the 
snow begins to accumulate, the elk, knowing the 
impossibiliy of wintering here, drift toward their 
respective, ranges. One wing going towards the 
northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park 
and the other equally as numerous or more so, 
goes south to Jackson Hole Country.” 

Many persons passing through Yellowstone 
Park never see as much as an elk. To see an elk 
you must be out in the morning or evening, 
73 


while they are at their grazing places. Some of 
our party saw as many as fourteen. When we 
consider there are nearly four thousand square 
miles in this park on the level and—who knows 
how many, as this mountain country lies—there 
might be several dozen elk roaming about with¬ 
out being seen. 

In the Wyoming Valley in the winter of 1908- 
1909, there were herds of at least a thousand 
elk fed by the citizens of Jackson Hole. These 
citizens raised six hundred dollars and the state 
appropriated considerable money for the buying 
of hay to feed the starving animals. State Game 
Warden Nowlin bought four hundred tons of 
hay from the ranches besides doing all else he 
could to save their lives and still thousands of 
them died. Last winter they fared much better 
as the snow was not so deep. 

We leave Elk Park and are soon at Gibbon 
Canyon. Following Gibbon River for several 
miles, we see small boiling springs on either side 
of the river. Two curious freaks are the Cho¬ 
colate Springs. One is on our side of the river 
and the other is on the opposite side. The water 
flowing from them is much the color of chocolate 
but I should judge much different in taste. This 
drive leads us along Gibbon River to its junction 
with Firehole River. We drive close up to the 
74 


foot of the mountain whose tops reach two thou¬ 
sand feet above us. We are in sight of Mt. 
Schurz. 

At an altitude of one thousand feet above s 
Gibbon River is located Monument Geyser Basin. 

In this mountain basin are located active geysers 
as well as those that have become extinct. We did 
not visit this basin on account of its difficulty of 
access. 

As we pass through Gibbon Canyon and close 
to the rivers’ edge, we see peculiar little geysers 
and hot springs. Each one has its oddity. One 
of these springs, the Beryle Spring, is fifteen feet 
in diameter and we drive close up to its side. 

It made a roaring hissing noise as the water 
boiled and the steam escaped. Our young team 
showed some fright. Passing on, we soon were 
at a beautiful falls,—The Gibbon Falls, or I 
would prefer to call it a cascade. 

A point of highly colored rock projects out 
into the river over which the waters of Gibbon 
River pour. The water roars and tosses in a 
great volume over one side, while on the other 
it courses in thin and clear sheets, giving one 
of the most picturesque sights seen in our travel. 
This water leaps from ledge to ledge stimulating 
us so much that we wish to remain there. 

After coursing down over the beautiful rock 
75 


for eighty feet, it becomes quiet for a very short 
distance when a second cascade drops it grad¬ 
ually for many feet more. In the midst of the 
second descent are large rocks, one in particular, 
twenty-five feet high. It has been reduced about 
its base from the constant wear of the water so 
that we have a Balanced Rock. Not so large but 
fully as beautiful as that of the “Garden of the 
Gods.” 

A very short distance below in the edge of the 
river are two spurting springs; one has built up 
a tower of eight feet, the other one of ten feet. 
Out of their tops spurts water one inch in dia¬ 
meter and about six feet high. 


76 


CHAPTER XIV. 


In the depths dwelled mystery 


Our road still runs around the foot of the 
mountain and close to the rivers’ edge. The 
government has constructed some very substan¬ 
tial roads at this point and has done here what 
should have been done elsewhere in the park. 
All timber cut out of the roadway has been dis¬ 
posed of. Very many places in the park where 
it was necessary to cut timber to make roads, 
the timber was “slashed” down, and now logs 
lying on the ground by the roadside, make bad 
fire traps. One spark in this timber as we drive 
by, might cause the loss of thousands of acres of 
this beautiful pine forest. These logs could be 
hauled into the road in late fall or early spring 
and burned with safety. 

The government could conveniently maintain 
several sawmills in the park to saw depreciating 


77 





pines and not alone lessen the danger of fire, 
but economize on their building material as well. 
Thousands of feet of timber are drawn over 
these mountains each year for the construction 
of buildings and bridges, when the same could 
be manufactured at any point in the park. 

In conclusion, let us study the surroundings 
for a few minutes. The Yellowstone Lake six¬ 
teen by twenty miles has an altitude of 7741 feet 
and in places it has unknown depth. We will 
suppose it reaches a depth placing it on a sea 
level which would be more than a mile deep. 
Then again realize that this heat is far below the 
bottom of this lake as there are boiling springs 
around as well as in it. Considering it 
much below the bottom of the lake, how easy 
it would be for the waters to percolate or have 
subterranean channels down to the bed rock that 
covers this body of fire. This rock is very hot. 
Soon the water is so heated that the formation 
of steam forces it to a height above the lake and 
in some instances, hundreds of feet higher. As 
the water boils over the edge of these springs or 
is forced into the air, it of course either flows 
back to the lake or is deposited in some of the 
rivers. All contain alkali, some iron, some 
sulphur, some vegetable matter that has life; it 
lives; it grows; it dies. It brings with it some 
78 


of the most delicate coloring matter of blue, pur¬ 
ple, yellow, red, green, brown. Then again each 
of the forms surrounding the springs or geysers 
go down to the fountain head no one 'knows how 
deep. 

In our study of the geological surroundings, 
we must estimate that the source of all this 
trouble is at least thousands of feet beneath the 
earth’s surface. If this be true and these cones 
are becoming more and more constricted near the 
surface, they may close entirely some day. 

Great boiling springs upon the mountain side 
have closed gradually until they ceased their 
activity only to force their way' out making some 
new opening on the opposite side of the mount¬ 
ain. There was a time when conditions were 
different. All conditions surrounding this pe¬ 
culiar place of nature, go to show that this vol¬ 
canic eruption is of later years compared with 
other portions of the Rocky Mountain system. 
Men who explored this portion of the Rockies 
fifty years ago, found changes in that time which 
led them to believe that things might have been 
radically different less than a thousand years ago. 

In my study of existing conditions, I might 
surmise it not impossible for radical changes 
to occur again. Then like now, the fire burned; 
the water boiled; the steam escaped; but if that 


79 


is real fire underneath where is its exit? If the 
fire burns, there is a waste. If there is a waste, 
what becomes of it ? There is no exit for smoke, 
lava or ashes. Again, when this upheaval occur¬ 
red, it forced to the surface, lime, mud, glass, 
rocks and even now it forces up from the un¬ 
known depths, mud, water-—black, green, yel¬ 
low, emerald, blue and some as clear as crystal. 

It is just as likely to burn upward as down, 
and by so doing, eat through the thin crust. As 
I said before, all this escaping hot water contains 
a great deal of lime. The waters’ action upon the 
limestone bottom is gradually eating away this 
lime rock; the water dissolving it upon the one 
side; while the fire is eating it upon the-other. 
In due course of time, these two great antagon- 
ists*will meet. 

You and I may be investigating the conditions 
far beneath long before this happens, but happen 
it will, unless this heat producing power dies out. 


SO 


Mammoth Hot Springs 



































































CHAPTER XV. 


Queer may they seem 


Salt Lake City 

On our return, we visited Salt Lake City locat¬ 
ed thirty-seven miles south of Ogden,' Utah. 

Salt Lake City is ^ beautiful city of eighty 
thousand inhabitants. It is built close to the foot 
hills of the mountains. An observing eye would 
readily see that it is a one man town. All the 
blocks are of exact size, just seven blocks to a 
mile. The width of the resident streets are one 
hundred twenty-two feet. I remember one street 
running north and south. It extended from 
mountain to mountain, thirty-five miles without 
a crook. 

To the east of the city on an elevation of one 
thousand feet above the city’s level is located Ft. 


81 






Douglas. A standing army is maintained here. 
The fort and other buildings are on a sightly 
place overlooking the west and far in the distance 
we can see Salt Lake. We were received with 
a great deal of cordiality. While in Salt Lake 
City we attended a recital in the Tabernacle. 
This building has a self supporting roof and is 
an immense structure. The entire building is 
made of wood and put together with wooden pins 
—no nails being used. The Tabernacle has the 
largest pipe organ in this country. This audi¬ 
torium is noted for its liberality of sound. It is 
conceded that there is no building in the world 
where the sound is so distinctly heard. Children 
are not admitted and no person permitted to 
leave the building during services. You dare 
not whisper, the sound being so exaggerated as 
to disturd those many feet from you. 

The cone shaped roof is covered with canvas 
on the outside and plastered on the inside. No¬ 
thing extraordinary can be seen about the struct¬ 
ure. Why the sounds should be so distinct has 
not been explained. Buildings built similarly fail 
to produce the same effects. Within this same 
enclosure is built the Temple, a magnificent 
structure built of Gray Granite. Like Solomon’s 
Temple, not a sound of the hammer was heard. 
The stones were all blocked and dressed in the 


82 


mountains many miles away. The Temple was 
forty years in building, from 1853 to 1893. 

At the time the Temple was dedicated, the 
Gentiles were allowed to attend the services. 
Since that time not a Gentile has seen the inside 
of this structure. They now dominate business 
affairs, however, since they constitute fifty-five 
per cent, of the population. 

Quaint old houses made from stone drawn 
from the mountains when the Mormons first 
settled here, are still seen in different portions 
of the city. 

The buildings now under construction are of 
the latest type. Four steel structures are under 
the process of construction. 

Salt Lake is located eighteen miles west of the 
city and is reached by rail. The water of this 
lake contains twenty-six per cent, of salt. A 
pavilion is built about a mile in the lake. It is 
large enough to accommodate several thousand 
persons. The dancing pavilion will accommodate 
one thousand couples at a time. The water is 
shallow and here the people take their salt baths. 
A person who is careful can float on the surface 
with little difficulty, the water is so dense. 

Water is pumped into tanks and piped out 
some two miles into evaporating receptacles. 
The odor from this salt producing process is 


83 


anything but agreeable to the passerby. It re¬ 
minded me of my college days. 

Salt Lake City is an active and a very clean 
city, much to be admired from a great many 
view points. 

As I traveled through the city, I saw where 
Brigham Young’s many wives either lived or had 
lived before they joined Brigham in his last re¬ 
treat. I noted the home of his first wife and the 
home of his favorite wife. Thinking of the con¬ 
trast I said: “There must be some clause of do¬ 
cility and humiliating obedience in the creed laid 
down by Brigham that does not exist in ours. 
Not many women holding first sway would allow 
number two or number ten to live in sufch lux¬ 
urious surroundings without a general disturb¬ 
ance in their rat appendages.” 

The domestic surroundings among these in¬ 
dividuals compared with ours are such one could 
not help saying; “This is not alone one man’s 
town but one man’s king(Jom as well.” When I 
suggested leaving some of our women here in 
Salt Lake City, until they were relieved of some 
of their selfishness, I came near being mobbed. 

Brigham had set aside a plat of ground now 
in the city limits for a burial place for,himself 
and his wives. It now contains Brigham and a 
few of his wives but I was informed that the city 


84 


forbade any more of them being buried beside 

him. 

As I stood beside Brigham’s grave and thought 
of the dry alkali waste I had traveled over 
but a few days before with modern conveniences, 
knowing what I endured compared with what 
he must have suffered more than sixty years 
before, tramping over this barren plain; climbing 
up the mountain side, only to find that the 
promised land he had reached was minus suffici¬ 
ent rainfall to produce crops enough to sustain 
life. It was here that Brigham’s fertile mind 
was again brought into action and irrigation was 
put into use. 

When the call to arms was sounded to assert 
our rights in Mexico during the trouble with 
that country in the forties, Brigham quickly re¬ 
sponded, sending many of his able bodied pione¬ 
ers. When they reached Mexico, the trouble 
had been quelled and their services were not 
needed. On their return, they drifted into Cal¬ 
ifornia ; gathered in gold enough to tide the Salt 
Lake Colony over until commerce could be es¬ 
tablished with the outside world. 

I saw beautiful herds of cattle, waving 
fields of grain and thrifty orchards of apples and 
peaches. We had always looked upon Salt Lake 
City with much curiosity, why I know not, unless 


85 


from a religious standpoint. While bound to 
visit this city and see it for myself, I thought of 
an old maid I once knew. She grew up from 
childhood to be a young woman and soon was 
an old maid and late in life she married. When 
asked why she married so late in life, she said; 
“I never took any person’s word on important 
questions but investigated for myself.” 

We have seen Salt Lake City with its peculiar 
religious sect for ourselves. I met some people 
in Ogden Canyon one day. I asked them to what 
church they belonged and they said they were 
Mormons. Do you know I was very much sur¬ 
prised, they looked just like other people. It was 
here that Brigham and his people lived from all 
the world; built up a beautiful and prosperous 
city; lived happily with, his wives and children. 
And when the time came for him to be taken to 
his last abiding place, all he asked was to be 
buried beside his wives and children. I said as 
I stood beside Brigham’s grave, “No matter how 
much we disagree with you on creed, these few 
feet of earth contain the remains of one active 
and business-like mind.” What should I care? 
What should anyone care if Brigham wanted to 
march the golden streets of the New Jerusalem 
hand in hand with a score of wives? If he felt 
pride in meeting his friend, King Solomen, why 
86 


should we care? If you and I are unable to 
tolerate one wife, I thin'k it very inconsiderate 
to deny a man the right to lie peacefully beside 
his beloved score, who has been able to stand 
their jars during a whole life time. 


CHAPTER XVI. 


Who knows thy royal peaks, 
thy royal beauty. 


We left Salt Lake City at 7:10 p. m. over the 
Denver & Rio Grande for Colorado Springs, 
arriving at our destination after a run of 
twenty-four hours. We were at Grand Junction 
as the sun’s rays peeked over the mountains. 
This gave us a daylight run in the Royal Gorge. 
The mountain scenery in the Royal Gorge is 
considered among tlje most picturesque of all 
mountain passes. We followed close to the 
Grand River many miles, crooking in and out, 
shooting through some short tunnel, popping out 
on the other side only to face a magnificent clifif. 
The rocks here are of sandstone—the wind and 
rain have succeeded in wearing away the sand 
between the more hardened layers so as to make 
some queer shaped rocks. 

The mountain stands out from 1,000 to 2,000 


88 







feet high. Many holes are seen upon the side 
of the mountain where some lone prospector had 
formed visions of wealth. The indications are 
that most of these visions soon vanished. 

We have come to a point where we must cross 
the backbone of the Rockies. To do so we must 
wind around the mountain and make a gradual 
ascent. Two engines are pulling and one is 
pushing us. We make such short quick curves 
that there are times when we can see both ends 
of the train at the same time. We ascend higher 
and higher, and looking back far below us we 
can see other trains begining the same laborious 
climb. As we reach the mountain top or Ten¬ 
nessee Pass with an altitude of ten thousand feet, 
we have a splendid view of the surrounding 
mountains. Many people suffer severely at this 
altitude especially those having any diseased con¬ 
dition of the heart. 

While on this mountain top we stop close be¬ 
side a beautiful spring. We are informed this 
is the source of the Arkansas River—making 
seven sources claiming that glory. 

♦This stream follows close to the railroad and 
soon becomes quite a river being fed by smah 
streams from the mountain. 

The scenery all through the gorge is grand 
Great mountain peaks two thousand feet high, 


89 


richly colored by red, yellow and gray rocks, 
stand out before us. We can’t imagine the 
amount of internal pressure that was necessary 
to force this magnificent mountain thousands of 
feet into the air or the shrinking of this little 
globe on which we live, to cause these deep gul¬ 
ches and picturesque valleys. The source from 
which these mountain cliffs came must have been 
well supplied with a beautiful sand deposit, for 
the layers as they stand out before us are of a 
decided red, brown, gray, yellow, and purple. 
These mountains tower far above us just as 
Nature constructed them. The geological form¬ 
ations are distinctly visible. In the largest 
mountain peaks the Colored layers seem to be 
either horizontal or perpendicular while the 
smaller have attained almost any slant, showing 
plainly how at the time of this upheaval the small 
thin cliffs toppled over, assuming various shapes. 

Now their crevices have opened by allowing 
moisture to sink far into their depths, this com¬ 
bined with the freezing winters has caused these 
rocks to crumble, its fragments weathering finer 
and finer. It has now become sufficiently fertile 
that we see small trees and vegetation growing 
thereon. It seems queer that any man would 
venture through this barren rocky mountainous 
country but such nevertheless is true. I can’t 


90 


see what would attract a man’s attention out¬ 
side of curiosity for mountain scenery. As we 
sit in the observation car, the mountains towering 
thousands of feet high on either side of us, and 
a beautiful stream running close beside our 
coach, we keep our eyes moving in rapid suc¬ 
cession, first to the right and then to the left, 
surveying their wondrous beauty. 

There are places in the Royal Gorge where 
the road is built so close up under these immense 
mountains covered with snow, that it would seem 
the least jar from our train would precipitate us 
in an avalanche, but we, like thousands before 
us, pass through in safety. 


91 


CHAPTER XVII. 


I love thy peaks but not thine alone 


Pikes Peak 

Just one hundred four years before this mem¬ 
orable day, my friend, Zebulon M. Pike, climbed 
and explored this very mountain peak. I real¬ 
ize he was not half as noisy about it as I have 
been. In fact, about all the noise Zebulon made 
wjas his excessive respiratory action—quite a 
contrast—I am sitting in an observation car be¬ 
ing pushed up this mountain by steam power. 
When Zebulon climbed to this peak, he slept on 
the mountain side covered with snow and drench¬ 
ed with rain. In the same nook upon the same 
large boulder that gave him peaceful sleep and 
rest we now have the cottage of some pleasure 
seeker, some person seeking to be restored to 
that normal state from which he reduced him¬ 
self by the violation of some of Nature’s valued 


92 








laws. Had Zebulon been seeking his health I 
fear we would never have had this peak explored. 

I see all kinds of people climbing this mount¬ 
ain, old and young, striving side by side, some 
“thin as shads” others “blue as turkey gobblers.” 
I suppose a person never becomes so old but 
what he is just as curious as if young. It would 
seem nothing but curiosity could induce a person 
to ride on one of those noisy cog roads that 
whirls you round and round this mountain peak. 
You are so dizzy or scared—I don’t know which 
—that you could not tell whether Colorado 
Springs is east, west, north or south. 

We all seemed in the real estate business. 
What we did not know was not worth knowing. 

While in Colorado Springs I heard a great 
deal about their sparkling mountain water. It 
came right from the top of Pikes Peak, sure 
enough, and I know now that it does. As we 
ascend the peak on this Political Cog road—I 
call it political on account of the awful noise it 
makes in accomplishing so small a task—I see 
a lake of three or four acres of queer looking 
water, and I am informed that this lake is one 
of the sources of the Colorado Springs water 
supplies. “But what is that queer looking stuff 
on top of the water?” I asked. “That’s ice,” said 
my congenial informer. Ice on that lake upon 


93 


the 17th days of July, 1910. Could it be possible? 
My coriosity became very much aroused as did 
my temperature. If an ice covered lake lay at 
my left hand while my right hand was busy 
wiping the perspiration from my brow, try¬ 
ing to exist in a temperature of 96 in the 
shade, off I was to cool my whirling and be¬ 
wildered head. I knew before I had gone far 
that this man’s truthfulness was effected by the 
high altitude, there seemed to be a scum on that 
water sufficient to go skating on. I was amused 
at a young lady near me, who, after looking 
at the water and sniffing the stimulating mount¬ 
ain air, said, “that beats Chicago river.” I had 
very much admired the quietude of this lady’s 
nervous system upon different occasions. I re¬ 
member as we approached timber line she leaned 
forward and spoke to a young man, I not hearing 
what she said, but as he turned about and remark¬ 
ed, “Oh, I am all right,” I caught a glimpse of 
of his face. He was a tall, slim creature with 
his face blue, purple and haggard. I offered him 
a smell at my invigorating bottle and he soon 
walked like a millionaire. The last two thousand 
feet of this peak is above timber line and is bare 
as far as vegetation is concerned. 

The rocks, as we gradually make this eleva¬ 
tion, are much like the boulders of Michigan, 


94 


but that above timber line is decidedly different. 
It shows the decided characteristics of a volcanic 
eruption. No rocks are smooth. They are all 
shapes but round, simply fragments of a violent 
explosion. It simply points out where another 
internal disturbance took place, crumbling the 
immense rocks dwelling within the realms of this 
great massive earth, forcing them to the surface, 
yes, even higher, forcing them fourteen thousand 
feet above the surrounding country. I, after 
thousands of years am here trying to imagine 
what turmoil must have occured in the geological 
family to force such knots out upon its surface. 

All the rocks above timber line, or the frag¬ 
ments of one great rock, are sandstone. Some 
like your fist, many, thousands of feet square. 

In making this last two thousand feet of alti¬ 
tude we travel two miles. Sometimes we seem 
quite safe; again, we seem to hang upon the 
ragged edge of Eternity. At an altitude of 
14,147 feet is established an observatory that 
once was a United States Signal Station. I 
wonder what effect the reports of this rarified at¬ 
mosphere would have upon the people down on 
Mother Earth, for when I left Manitou in the 
blissful sunshine of a beautiful July day, I could 
stand on Pikes Peak and see the clear, blue sky 
above me, the mists of melting snow on the north, 


95 


the burning rays of a reflected sunshine south¬ 
wards, with the deep black clouds far below me 
on the west, and * torrents of rain pouring 
down, lit by the bright rays of chain lightning 
playing with the ghost-like darkness of the 
“Bottomless Pit.” 

During my curious research, I drifted to a 
ledge whose deep dark bottom would make you 
feel like descending into an unknown Eternity. 
I seated myself upon a huge lone boulder to study 
my surroundings. I had scarcely seated myself 
when, hearing a noise, I looked about and saw 
the same girl I had seen beside the lake but a 
few minutes before, dangling her feet from a 
perilous position. It seemed as if she were reach¬ 
ing so far into those unknown depths, that had 
Satan been on patrol duty, she might have tickled 
his bald head with her toe. Seeing her dangerous 
position, I said, “Young lady, you are taking 
many chances by tempting the inhabitants of 
such a dangerous looking pit.” She replied, 
“Oh, I am not afraid, I have seen lots worse 
holes than that right in Chicago.” 

A person can hardly realize while enjoying 
the changing atmosphere on this peak, that he 
is breathing the air far above the clouds, stand¬ 
ing upon the apex of a mountain of rock consti¬ 
tuting sitxy thousand square miles of earth. 


96 


Rapids of Yellowstone River 


















The feeling while ascending this mountain and 
looking continually against the bold rocks is 
much different than to attempt a descent. 

Here is a railroad (cog road) 47,992 feet long 
with an average grade of 16% or 845 feet to 
the mile. 

The locomotinves are a curious novelty. They 
are built on an incline so that while climbing the 
mountain the water remains on a level in the 
boilers. 

The road at present is equipped with six of 
these queer looking locomotives and six pas¬ 
senger coaches. 

Upon Pikes Peak water boils at 184 degrees 
ocmpared with 212 degrees on our altitude. As 
we make our travel back to terra firma, looking 
far into space, while our car is running on an 
incline of 15 to 25 degrees slant, we have a more 
peculiar feeling than when we made our ascent a 
few hours before. Our car circles round and 
round this mountain peak, now in some ragged 
gulch, then crawling, close under some mam¬ 
moth rock whose ragged borders are hanging out 
far over our car. A' person has a peculiar feeling 
while riding underneath these mountains of 
rocks weighing millions of tons. I never shall 
forget an old gentleman who sat near me and 
who was in company with his grandson. At 
97 


one of these spookish places the old man, grip¬ 
ping hard to the back of my seat, said: “Grand¬ 
son, how many times have you gone up this 
derned hill?” 

“This makes four times, I believe.” 

“And you are still alive?” 

“Oh, yes, I don’t think there is any particular 
danger.” 

“No danger,” cried the old gentleman. Just 
then we hugged close under one of those huge 
rocks that seems as if it would bury you every 
minute. “Do you know” said the old gentleman, 
“sometime when this car comes jolting down this 
hill that whole derned mountain will come right 
over on this car and crush the pudding right out 
of the whole bunch of you? I tell you Grand¬ 
son, I’ll take my chances on my farm, milking my 
old brindle cow down in Illinois any time rather 
than take any chances of my life on this derned 
road.” The passengers had reacted from this 
spirit of amusement, and were becoming quite 
serious, when something about the car squeaked. 

‘‘Look out,” cried the old gentleman. You 
ought to have seen the crowd, especially the 
women. 

Those persons who were so interested in real 
estate on our ascending trip suddenly became 
very much interested in personal property, when 


98 


the girl I saw at the Lake said: “Oh, pshaw, I 
heard a bigger noise than that once, and right 
in Chicago.” 

We soon reached the bottom of Pikes Peak, 
somewhat wiser for our experience. After mak¬ 
ing a trip up Pikes Peak and getting back alive, 
a person can justly say, “Well, my curiosity is 
satisfied.” 


99 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Why deceivest me thou hypocrit? 


Colorado Springs 

Colorado Springs is a city of 30,000 inhabi¬ 
tants, situated seventy-five miles south of Den¬ 
ver. 

It is a characteristic summer town and is lo¬ 
cated in the midst of numerous attractions. Nine 
miles to the south we have the South Cheyenne 
Canyon, nearby is North Cheyenne Canyon, 
eight miles to the west we have The Garden of 
the Gods, Cliff Dwellers, Manitou and Pikes 
Peak. 

The South Cheyenne Canyon is reached by 
suburban car. All along the car line from Colo¬ 
rado Springs are built small bungalows and oc¬ 
cupied by some health seeker, most of them be¬ 
ing tubercular cases. It reminds one of a leper 
colony. 


100 






Cheyenne Canyon is owned by private parties, 
and they charge for the privilege of sight-seeing. 
There are a few very nice cliffs and projecting 
mountains through this Canyon, no doubt the 
Seven Falls and the last resting place of Helen 
Hunt Jackson attract the attention of the public 
more than any scenery in this Canyon. 

Helen Hunt Jackson became very much at¬ 
tached to the Seven Falls, which is very ma¬ 
jestic in its descent. They are a beautiful study 
as their thin crystal water adds life and cheer to 
the happy birds and musical trees that seem to 
drive away all worldly cares. The surroundings 
so stimulate one that he scarcely feels the fatigue 
that usually accompanies such long climbs. This 
mountain pass gives rest to many tourists, some¬ 
what of a contrast from the High Dive that is 
filled with fine scenery and a great many ven¬ 
turesome ascents and descents. A person feels 
somewhat relieved when returned to Mother 
Earth in safety. 

As I said, west of Colorado Springs we have 
The Garden of the Gods. This is one more of 
Nature’s peculiar pieces of deviation. Upon a 
base of several hundred acres more or less level, 
we find a few peaks of Nature’s rocks. Built 
upon this common level are queer oddities of 
sandstone. This sandstone is alternated with 


101 


hard and soft layers. The winds and rain beat¬ 
ing against these rocks for years have carried 
away the softer layers, allowing the more com¬ 
pact ones to stand out, causing formations not 
unlike real Nature. In passing through The Gar¬ 
den of the Gods we saw these features: Toad 
Stools, Steam Boats, Camels’ Heads,. Bear, 
Seal, the famous Balance Rock, tall slim spires, 
some of which it was difficult to tell whether 
the top or bottom end was the thicker. All of 
these peculiar formations are of sandstone and of 
a deep red color. As some of these formations 
tower fifty to seventy-five feet high, and have 
such small bases, it is hard to conceive how they 
maintain their upright position. While here, I 
visited the Clifif Dwellers, but a short distance 
from Manitou. It is surprising how their mud 
huts have withstood all these years of wear and 
tear. They look just like cement we now use 
for building. It is wonderful what stories some 
persons tell about these wonderful people. Do you 
know, persons who have always lived in a low 
altitude seem to become doubters of the veracity 
of those people living in a high altitude. I am 
quite inclined to think it affects veracity much as 
it does their opinion of finances. 

At the foot of Pikes Peak is a beautiful village 
of fifteen hundred inhabitants called Manitou. 


102 


Manitou is the seat of hundreds of mineral 
springs, and in fact, it is supported to a great 
extent by health seekers. If you don’t want a 
salt bath you can have a sulphur bath. If you 
don’t want a sulphur bath you can have an iron 
bath. If you don’t want an iron bath you can 
have a soda bath. If you don’t want any of the 
above named you can have them mixed. 

Close to the street is a large spring known as 
the Soda spring. This water boils up to the 
surface, bubbling and sparkling in the bright 
sunlight. It is a delicious drink much like the 
soda water bought at the fountain. It tingles 
in your nose just the same as soda water does. 
This is a Cure All. I saw persons carrying it 
away in pints, quarts, yes in gallons. Yqu see 
kneeling before this fountain of eternal soda 
water the lame, the blind, the halt; in fact, be¬ 
side this spring can be seen persons of all ail¬ 
ments—from an ingrown toe-nail to a bald head, 
swearing to the good it has done for others. 
Two drinks will cure asthma, three drinks will 
enable you to ascend Pikes Peak like a Lord, 
while four drinks might put you down and out. 


103 


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